Where do I answer the essay questions?

CFA Level III
#1

As test day for Level 3 got close, I became nervous about the actual exam. That is, I didn’t know where to answer the questions on Level 3. Yeah, CFAI gives you the prior year’s exams, but every single page says “ANY MARKS ON THIS PAGE WILL NOT BE GRADED”. So where do you answer questions?

First, let’s look at the 2012 exam. (For some reason, my browser won’t let me cut-and-paste.)

How to find the exams

Go to cfainstitute.org, and hover over “Programs” at the top, and click on “CFA Program”. In the shaded blue box on the left, click on “Exam Details”. Down toward the bottom of the page, you will see (in bold blue letters) “Sample Exam Questions”.

Click on “Sample Exam Questions” and you will get the links to the past three years of ACTUAL morning exams. (These are not mock exams. These are not practice exams. These are the actual exam that was given.)

_ Where do I mark my answers? _

Now that we’ve found the exams, let’s click on the 2012 Level III essay questions. (Not the answers–just look at the questions.)

On Page 1, there is a table of contents. Page 2 is intentionally left blank (and nobody knows why).

The exam begins on Page 3. It continues to Page 4, but pages 5 and 6 are conspicuously missing. Page 7 has a template to answer the questions, page 8 is missing, and page 9 is another template. Pages 10-13 are also missing. Question 2 resumes on Page 14.

The missing pages are blank, lined pages (kinda like notebook paper), on which you will answer your questions. So you would label Page 5 as “Question 1A” and you would answer the question. On Page 6, you would label the page “Question 1B” and answer the question.

Of course, you would answer Question 1C in the template provided on page 7. In fact, the instructions say, “Answer question 1C in the template provided on page 7.” (Yeah, you COULD answer it on lined paper, and it would still get graded. But why waste the time?)

On Page 8, you would label it, “Question 1D” and answer the question. Then you would use the template on Page 9 to answer Question 1E.

Pages 10-13 are more blank, lined paper. If you made a mistake on the other questions, you could cross them out and write the answer here instead.

Anyway, that’s a brief tutorial on what to expect in the AM session. Now that you know what to expect, if you practice a few times, you shouldn’t have a problem with being able to put the answers in the right places. Just make sure that you label your answers as 1A, 2C, etc., so there’s no chance that the graders will grade the wrong question.

#2

Thanks for this, Greenman. Very insightful for first-timers like me.

#3

sticky :wink:

#4

Thanks, Greenman. One of those many things that seems obvious once someone explains it to me, but I could totally see myself freak out trying to figure out the mystery of the missing pages on my own… Helpful to know what to expect!

[Of course I’m still months away from my first practice test, but still… Every little bit helps.]

#5

ps* There are more than enough space to answer each question, so leave one page per one question, for example, 1A on one page, and 1B on a seperate page, even though you don’t use up the whole page.

This is because if you later find out your answer to 1A is incorrect, you still have space below to correct it, and it looks a lot cleaner to have one page per question.

Also, when you double check if you have answered all the questions at the end, it is easy to count all the answers from looking at just the top of each page. (this is a key process because i have missed a question on the actual exam and thank goodness i had time to do it at the end)

#6

^ This is great advice.

#7

Thanks Greenman … it is indeed a great advice

#8

Greeny, looks like they heeded to the feedback and published the entire 2013 exam. If it’s not too much, can you please edit your original post and walk us through the 2013 exam, like you did for the 2012 version?

PS: I think I understand how this works, and don’t necessarily need further input from you. However, I was thinking that using the 2013 exam would be helpful for others, especially if the mods make your OP a sticky.

#9

Bump, for CleverCFA

#10

Thanks Greenman. Appreciate it.

#11

Was the format of the 2013 exam different on the day, or is is just that they’ve published it in a different format?

#12

this is the first time with the 2013 paper they are showing what the full booklet looks like. Up until 2012 - they published all the “question pages” and left out the “answer pages” - so you would see gaps on the pages numbered in the 2012 exam, e.g.

The 2013 paper is in its entirety - including the “answer” pages and blank pages.

#13

^Agreed with cpk. What you see in the 2013 paper is the exact same thing that I saw on test day.

I wouldn’t worry too much about the test format. It’s pretty intuitive. Just work through the 2013 AM exam and you’ll be fine.

#14

Just wanted to take a second to thank Greenman72 for making this post!

BUMP for others writing this year.

Cheers